As a kid, there was nothing better than the birthday party at the SkatePlex – the smell of sweat and mold, employees who didn’t care as much as they should (just as much as they were paid), and the “all skate.” I thought of this analogy so many times when we first launched Rooted. We couldn’t have pulled it off without everyone jumping in and playing their part.
In church settings, the area of community, small groups, or spiritual formation is often relegated to a few individuals who seem to be best at winning the skating limbo. The bar continues to lower. And we watch with anticipation to see who will survive and take ownership. This, of course, is not because the staff doesn’t want individuals to grow in their faith. It is because people are messy, and getting them to grow in community together is even messier.
Let’s be honest, Rooted can be a beast to launch. Between the launch date itself, getting people into groups, finding leaders, the prayer experience, serve experiences, money talk, strongholds, and organizing and pulling off the celebration, it can all be a bit overwhelming.
This is why Rooted must be an ALL SKATE for the church.
Here are three quick things to keep in mind as you strive to include everyone:
- People help promote what they help create. Avoid Rooted becoming siloed out to only the “groups” team. Invite representatives from different departments to help you plan Rooted.
- Empower new or young staff to grow in leadership. The centralized prayer experience, or the Just-in-Time trainings are the perfect opportunities to help them grow in pastoring.
- Get the buy-in from everyone on the staff. This includes inviting people to Rooted and leading Rooted. One of the most successful ways we have seen this work is to have the staff invite people to join the Rooted group they are leading.
On an even more practical level, we have also found the use of RASCI to be really helpful.
For those not familiar with RASCI or it’s many derivatives, it is a responsibility assignment matrix. Each letter stands for a different role that can be assigned to an individual or individuals for any given task. If you are interested in reading more about it, check out this Wikipedia article. Yes, I know I just linked Wikipedia, but in the words of the great philosopher Michael Scott, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.”
In short, break down each moving part of Rooted and assign tasks to the different team members. Some will be Responsible for completing the task, one will be held Accountable to make sure it happens, some give Support, others need to be Consulted and others Informed.
Most of us already do this informally in some way, but having it written down helps to clarify communication between departments. For instance, here is a RASCI that might reflect the Money Talk during week 8:
This may seem a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but having a clear path internally helps to make sure that the Launch of Rooted goes well.
Make your Rooted launch an all skate, and don’t be that guy skating counter-clockwise while everyone else is going clockwise. Nobody likes that guy.
For more practical tips on launching Rooted in your context, register for one of our upcoming Launch Intensives.
J. Grant Hickman is the Executive Pastor of Coaching and Spiritual Formation at Willamette Christian Church in the greater Portland, Oregon area. He enjoys woodworking, surfing, and hiking, but mainly spending time with his wife Jenna and kids. Outside of exploring the PNW with his family, he is finishing a doctoral thesis at Denver Seminary and loves equipping others to love like Jesus.
